Aside from the $18,000 Hilberling PT8000, $14,000 FTDX9000, $10,000 IC7800 etc. (which to me is as ridiculous as the government paying $7000. for an ashtray...) has anyone noticed the prices for dual band VHF /UHF equipment from the big three lately? They seem exhorbitant to me!

Now I know there will be those who will say... go buy the "cheap Chinese trash" if you dont like the prices from the "Quality" manufacturers. Well... I did. The "Quality" big three HT radios I have owned lately said "Made in China" on the box too. I wouldn't be surprised if certain Motorola rigs are made in China as well.

I just purchased a Wouxun KG-UV6D V2 with programming software and cable (with Part 90 certifications for both VHF and UHF) for $160. shipped.

Hopefully the competition from Wouxun, Baofeng, TYT etc. will force the big three and their dealers to "get real" with their prices as well.

It won't be long and the Chinese will be making more than 10 cents an hour and the prices will go up to match Japanese wages. That cheap price is on the backs of Chinese workers. While their cost of living matches their wages, both will go up.. Considering money is now about 10 times what it was in 1950, that means a Hallicrafters SX42 at the $600 range back then would now be $6K..So $6K for a am fm receiver covering up to 60 megacycles or so doesnt seem out of line..Do the math

Unfortunately a large number of people do not understand how money works. The fact is that we are starting to see inflation kick in from the monetary and fiscal policies of this country. It is inevitable that inflation will increase and the value of the american dollar will fall, which means everything will cost more - including our toys. I wish people would understand that our government policies of spending money we don't have DOES have consequences. One of those consequences will be paying higher prices for everything. We simply cannot ignore this fact. Unfortunately, we have reached that tipping point in which the political electorate who know little about money and see the government as a sugar-daddy have become the majority. And they are going to vote for those who spend recklessly for those votes. But everything has a cost in today's dollars or inflated tomorrow's dollars. If you are thinking of making any big dollar purchases, you better do it now because prices are only going to go much higher in the coming years.

Are those $18000 radios REALLY that much better?would you use all of the bell and whistles. Do you need them?I looked at the sensitivity specs on some of those expensive ones and they're not much better than the lower models, if at all.

Personally, I always thought a good antenna in a good location trumps an expensive radio.What do you think?

It won't be long and the Chinese will be making more than 10 cents an hour and the prices will go up to match Japanese wages. That cheap price is on the backs of Chinese workers. While their cost of living matches their wages, both will go up.. Considering money is now about 10 times what it was in 1950, that means a Hallicrafters SX42 at the $600 range back then would now be $6K..So $6K for a am fm receiver covering up to 60 megacycles or so doesnt seem out of line..Do the math

so a 718 at about $750 or in 1950 money $75.00 thats pretty cheap..

Check the orignal ad for the SX-42 in this link:http://www.antiqueradio.org/halli07.htmIn 1947 the SX-42 was $250(although the author of the page says $275, the price shown in the ad posted reads $250) not $600. Still expensive for that time. But, not quiteout of reach for some.jamesWD5GWY

It won't be long and the Chinese will be making more than 10 cents an hour and the prices will go up to match Japanese wages. That cheap price is on the backs of Chinese workers. While their cost of living matches their wages, both will go up.. Considering money is now about 10 times what it was in 1950, that means a Hallicrafters SX42 at the $600 range back then would now be $6K..So $6K for a am fm receiver covering up to 60 megacycles or so doesnt seem out of line..Do the math

so a 718 at about $750 or in 1950 money $75.00 thats pretty cheap..

What was minimum wage in 1950...or did they even have one yet?

Costs of living vs. wages seem to always have a gap that gets wider and wider...Our own system is heading rapidly towards a collapse under it's own weight !

Consider the Collins "Gold Dust Twins"The KWS-1 transmitter along with the 75A-4 receiver, together, cost over $2500 when new.Not sure what year exactly.That's about equivalent to over $20,000 in 2012 dollars.

The wealthy will always buy outrageous goods.During the 20's many people invested in rubber plantations in the Amazon, to fulfill the need forall the tires for all the cars then coming to market.Before it's collapse, Rubber Barons were so wealthythey imported French champaign to water their horses with!Most of them later lost it all due to the simplefact that the jungle can't sustain mono crop agriculture.

One day earlier this year I researched the price of one those beautiful ham transceivers and was startled..... no, SHOCKED to see the $10,000 price tag!

I set there in front of my old TS-830S wondering who in the hell would spend $10 big ones on a HAM transceiver. Since I couldn't possibly answer that question I turned on the rig and the very first station I talked to was using that very $10KB transceiver I was looking at!

I not only got my answer but realized that if a man has the bucks, spend them! Isn't that what it's for? Is it ridiculous? Who cares! Money is made to be spent!!

One day earlier this year I researched the price of one those beautiful ham transceivers and was startled..... no, SHOCKED to see the $10,000 price tag!

I set there in front of my old TS-830S wondering who in the hell would spend $10 big ones on a HAM transceiver. Since I couldn't possibly answer that question I turned on the rig and the very first station I talked to was using that very $10KB transceiver I was looking at!

I not only got my answer but realized that if a man has the bucks, spend them! Isn't that what it's for? Is it ridiculous? Who cares! Money is made to be spent!!

Too bad I don't have any.........

If ya got it flaunt it?Audiophiles are similar. There is a point at which the human ear can no longer determine the minute differences in THD.Once you are in the modern moderate priced amps,you are at that threshold, yet guys will spend crazy amounts of money for the THD bragging rights. Ego is an amazing thing and the marketing guys know how to appeal to it.

there is the point that interest rates are so low now that not spending it is just the same as gradually giving it away to the bank. Realistically, amateur radio has never been as cheap as it now is - look at the prices of even surplus equipment in the 1950s. Here, in 1950, a war surplus HRO without a power supply was a month's pay for many people, and that was just a receiver.

Receiver sensitivity isn't everything, and at HF, I doubt there's a rig that doesn't have more than most people can use, especially below 10 MHz. The exception may be people with dedicated rx antennas for the low bands, but for the joe who uses the same antenna for transmit and receive, that's certainly the case. Even on intermodulation and phase noise, modern HF rigs are tending to go overboard, producing performance that isn't needed and cannot be used because of the perfomance of all the other transmitters (including point to point, broadcast etc) around.

2EU - RZP: There used to be a discussion in our power plant control room during slack time whenever the lottery got up around $100 million dollars. The discussion revolved around winning the lottery and "how to spend it." Invariably, the conversation would involve "a nice this and a nice that" or "I'd live here or there..."

I'd let it ride for a bit and then tell them all "They simply didn't know how to spend money!" The result was similar to throwing a big rock against a chicken house at 3:00AM!

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